About 200 veterans, community leaders and elected officials turned
out Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the refurbished center,
which was damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and closed by VA
officials in 1999.

The reopening ceremony comes just six months after the initial
groundbreaking.

``We're our own best doctors,'' said Steven Palmer,
80, of Panorama City, one of the veterans instrumental in efforts to
repair the gym. The facility will strengthen more than just muscles, he
said.

``When you come here, there's the camaraderie. We need each
other, because we speak the same language.''

The opening follows nearly three years of broken promises and
bureaucratic delays to fix the gym and make it earthquake-proof.
Initially, VA officials had promised to repair the gym but instead
closed it indefinitely in 1999 after determining it was too expensive to
keep open.

The situation began to change after a lengthy campaign by local
veterans, numerous columns by the Daily News' Dennis McCarthy, and
the help of Congressmen Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills, Howard P.
``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and Brad Sherman, D-Sherman
Oaks. With their help, $1.7 million was finally secured to repair the
gym.

On Friday, the hardwood-floor gym had been refurbished and smelled
of new paint, but a swimming pool had been filled in to help stabilize
the structure. Plans are in the works to raise private funds to build a
new pool, said Charles Dorman, acting director of the VA Greater Los
Angeles.

Berman praised the members of the North Hills Veterans Advisory
Board as a dedicated group ``who called my office, stopped me in the
street and fought like tigers for the goal.''

McCarthy was honored for his columns, including a wry comment from
Berman that the gym was ``no doubt a just and noble cause, but with
somebody who never lets you forget about this just and noble cause, it
forces you to concentrate.''

While pleased with the results, Darion Dubois, co-chairman of the
North Hills Veterans Advisory Board, said, ``It's a celebration we
didn't have to have; they never should have closed it in the first
place.''

Dubois, 64, of Van Nuys said the veterans aren't going away,
either. Next on their list, after the swimming pool, is a fight to make
sure the veterans who use the Sepulveda facility continue to get
services, too many of which have been transferred to the West Los
Angeles facility, he said.

``The veterans were soldiers who protected our rights; the VA needs
to protect the veterans.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color ) After years of lobbying, the new Therapeutic Fitness
Center opened Friday at the Sepulveda VA Hospital.

(2 -- color) Veteran Jerry Kirschenbaum checks out the new gym at
the Sepulveda VA Hospital on Friday.